I made some more glasses over the last few days (it takes about a day to dry so I could only paint one side at a time, and the colors and outlines have to be done in separate steps). One is fall leaves-inspired, one is cheery cherries, and the other is sunflowers. All of which I love ♥

I've been so busy this week!! Again. Waaah where is my time to do the important things, like my manga and my friends? Work sucks it up. I've been really tired too. But soon, things should balance themselves out again a little bit, I hope. I hope to spend more time with friends and more time on my manga, the most important of all things! I can't stand when a job that is a waste of my time sucks up all of it. You know? Gaaaaaahhhhhh.. I feel like I would be better off quitting now rather than fulfilling my contract but.. gyah. Sense of responsibility, damn it... ^_^;;

My rent is only $600 a month, so you can definitely find an apartment for cheaper. It depends on where you're living and the size of the place that you want, but it's pretty easy to find it for cheaper, you just need to look while you're here. You can stay at a hotel or a guest house or with a friend until you find a place. ^^ Ask whatever company you're coming over here to work for to help you. ^^

I used a kind of paint that's made for painting on glass that I randomly found at the art store. In this case, it's called "vitrail". But I can't find any information on it on the internet that's in english... (it's from France) But I randomly liked the display even though the store's artists had NO talent, and decided to buy a few colors and give it a chance! ^o^

The title's in english? Or French, not sure. But there are lots of languages on the packages, and not a one of them are japanese. It's written in roman letters in any case. I found it on the painting floor at Kichijoji's Yuzawaya. ^^

Two things:1. I went to the Tokyo Amazons meetup and it was fun. Mostly Japanese, who nearly all spoke at least a little English. Quite small (8 people IIRC) but friendly. We went for dinner after the discussion and it was quite companiable.

They didn't seem to have any insights into how to pick people up outside ni-chome either, though. There's potential for friends in the group at a minimum :)

2. What would you as a manga lover recommend to a manga virgin? Translated stuff at the mo, sadly (Japanese is on my to do list).

That's great that you enjoyed it!! ^__^ I wrote to them yesterday finally, but I haven't gotten an email response yet. I might go to one of their events in the future. ^^ I'm definitely a Tokyo Amazon!!

Those two are widely-popular manga right now and they have a pretty broad interest range (I'd say they're the two most popular manga at the moment that aren't aimed at only children). If you could tell me about more of your tastes, I can recommend a lot more. ^^ If you like love stories, or love triangles, action, super powers, horror, fashion, weird stuff, you name it and there's a manga for it. ^^)

Some others that I like that I think are worth checking out to see if you like them, but they mostly appeal to different types of people...: GravitationBleachHunter x Hunter Boys over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango)Marmalade Boy Paradise KissPeach GirlHot GimmickFull Moon o SagashiteMiyuki-chan in Wonderland (you can't get any more lesbian than this without actually being lesbian!!)GTONegima!LovelessBattle Angel AlitaMonster

I could go on and on and on but I'll wait to hear more about your preferences first. ^^

Thanks for this - lots of info here. I like the premise of Death Note. I saw the advert for the live action on the Shibuya TVs the other day and was meaning to IMDB it.

In general reading wise I like the darker more adult fantasy, some sci fi and intelligent horror - anything from darkish fantasy like Storm Constantine, Stephen Donaldson through to more supernatural stuff like Clive Barker. Pretty much all my stuff sits on the grittier end of the fantasy / horror / sci fi spectrum. I like stuff that makes me think - standard goremasters a la James Herbert bore me. Filmwise I like Tarantino and clever fantasy, particularly when it's pretty. I also enjoyed what Japanese horror I've seen translated, (the usual stuff, Ringu, Dark Water) I like that it's subtle and suggests rather than shows, and I like ghost stories in general. Comics wise I've not read that much, but liked the Neil Gaiman I've read.

aw, love the glasses. I've been wanting to make glasses like the ichigo ones the Nanas have in their apartment in NANA, but I'm in the middle of so many projects right now, I can't justify going out and getting more materials before I finish something... ^^;

I feel often like that with my school. It's really annoying. In a fashion high school is something I need so it isn't as annoying as in your situation but still >.< I'd like to work on my Japanese, draw, read, hang out with friends and all that other stuff. I'm lucky if I hang out with a friend once in a week. Well, I don't have that many friends but it makes me feel even worse not to have time to be with them -.- Try to take it easy with your work and try to arrange time for what you want to do. If nothing else, take your manga with you to the work and work on it everytime you get a little break from the 'real' work. *wink*

The glasses are just too gorgeous. Are they hard to make? (I love all of those! Fall leaves, cherries, and ohmygoodness sunflowers!) I hope the time issues solve themselves and you get the chance to work on what you really like and enjoy :-)